Maria Schell

Maria Margarethe Anna Schell (15 January 1926, Vienna – 26 April 2005, Preitenegg, Carinthia, Austria) was an Austrian/Swiss actress, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1956 for Gervaise.

The daughter of a Swiss author and an Austrian actress, she was the older sister of actor Maximilian Schell and lesser-known actors Carl Schell and Immy (Immaculata) Schell.

Spouse(s):

Horst Hächler (1957–1965; divorced; 1 child)
Veit Relin (1966–1988; divorced; 1 child)

Career

She starred in such films as Dr. Holl (1951), So Little Time (1952), The Heart of the Matter (1953), Gervaise (1956), Le notti bianche (1957),Rose Bernd (1957), The Brothers Karamazov (1958) playing the role of Grushenka, The Hanging Tree (1959), Cimarron (1960), andSuperman (1978). She played Mother Maria in the sequel to Lilies of the Field called Christmas Lilies of the Field. She starred opposite such actors as Yul Brynner, Marcello Mastroianni, Suzy Delair, Gary Cooper and Marlon Brando. She also had five guest appearances in the television series, Der Kommissar and Derrick: Yellow He (1977) & Klavierkonzert (1978). Her final public appearance was at the premiere of her brother Maximilian's documentary film, My Sister Maria (2002). She starred in the 1976 Broadway play Poor Murderer.

Family

Schell was married twice, first to Horst Hächler and second to Veit Relin. Her daughter by her second marriage, actress Marie Theres Relin (born 1966), who was married to Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz and has three children, made a media and Internet appearance as a spokeswoman for housewives (If Pigs Could Fly. Die Hausfrauenrevolution, 2004).

Death

Maria Schell lived reclusively in ill health in Carinthia in the Austrian Alps until her death from pneumonia in Preitenegg, Austria on 26 April 2005, aged 79.

Posthumous

Upon her death, Maximilian Schell released a statement, saying in part: "Towards the end of her life, she suffered silently and I never heard her complain. I admire her for that. Her death might have been for her a salvation. But not for me. She is irreplaceable."

Autobiographical works

• 1985: Die Kostbarkeit des Augenblicks. Gedanken, Erinnerungen. Langen Müller, München, ISBN 3-7844-2072-9.
• 1998: „... und wenn’s a Katz is!“ Mein Weg durchs Leben. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, ISBN 3-404-12784-6.

Filmography (incomplete)

• Napoléon (1955)
• Das Riesenrad (1961)
• La Provocation (1970)
• The Twist (1976)
• Kojak - Season 4, Episode 11: "The Pride and the Princess " (1976)
• Derrick - Season 4, Episode 1: "Yellow He" (1977)
• Derrick - Season 5, Episode 6: "Klavierkonzert" (1978)

Further reading

• Mato Weiland: Maria Schell. Die autorisierte Maria Schell-Story. Massimo-Verlag, Wien 1959 ÖNB
• Herbert Spaich: Maria Schell – ihre Filme – ihr Leben. [Heyne-Bücher, 32] Heyne-Filmbibliothek, 99, München 1986, ISBN 3-453-86101-9
• Hermann Josef Huber: Heitere Starparade. 300 Anekdoten von Hans Albers bis Maria Schell. Herder Taschenbuch Verl., Freiburg/Br., Basel, Wien 1989 UBS
• Maximilian Schell, Gero von Boehm, Thomas Montasser: Meine Schwester Maria. Europa-Verlag, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-203-82037-4
• Maja Keppler (Red.), Deutsches Filmmuseum [Frankfurt, Main] (Hrsg.): Maria Schell, [eine Ausstellung des deutschen Filmmuseums 31. Januar bis 17. Juni 2007 Frankfurt am Main, Juli bis Oktober 2007 auf dem Schloss Wolfsberg, Kärnten (Österreich)]. Schriftenreihe des Deutschen Filmmuseums: Kinematograph, 22, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-89487-551-8